NCAA MEN'S BASKETBALL CHAMPIONSHIP: REGIONAL SEMIFINAL: OREGON VS USC

March 28, 2021

Eugene Omoruyi

Bankers Life Fieldhouse

Oregon Ducks

Sweet 16 Postgame Media Conference

USC - 82, Oregon - 68

Q. What was, again, their length has clearly bothered you guys -- maybe not you as much personally, but what was the challenge of just trying to get ball movement through the zone?

EUGENE OMORUYI: Their length really bothered us, got us off track a bit. And we just didn't compete in the first half, which we should have come on more aggressive. The length really affected us and my offensive starts.

Q. Obviously a disappointing end, but what will you take most from this season?

EUGENE OMORUYI: Playing with a great group of guys, just a great coaching staff. Just the University of Oregon always has my back. And just being able to come here and graduate. Just knock out my goals one by one has been a big thing for me.

And I'm going to miss this group. This is definitely my favorite group to play with. And we're just a family on and off the court. It's a heartbreaking moment right now.

Q. When you guys were down 20, you had that 11-0 run there to get within nine on Franck's tip-in with about 3:50 to go. Did you feel like, unlike the game in Los Angeles, maybe we've got a push here to make it a good game here at the end and get back in it?

EUGENE OMORUYI: Yeah, for sure. We were going to compete to the end no matter what. We were just fighting and I think they hit a 3 and just got us back rocky again. We wanted to fight. And no matter what the score was we wanted to fight until the final buzzer.

Q. Dana said he came into the locker room and told the team that he took a lot of the blame for not getting you guys ready for the zone. I guess as a player, how does that make you feel having a coach put the blame on himself for a loss like this?

EUGENE OMORUYI: I know Coach wants to put the blame on himself but it's all us. We're all a family. We're all a unit. It's all of us no matter what. So Coach did his part in talking to us. And we all didn't come ready today. So we all didn't come prepared. And the results showed.

Q. You talk about the camaraderie on and off the court. I know all you seniors live together. With that in mind, what did you say to LJ after this one because this was an uncharacteristic night and a tough night for him. So, as not just a teammate but as someone you're around all the time this last year, what do you say to him after this?

EUGENE OMORUYI: Keep your head up. We've got bigger things in the future just with this game of basketball. We all decided to come to Eugene and we wanted to do something big. And although we didn't get all the way to our goals we still knocked out a bit of our goals that we set before the season started. So I told him just to keep his head up and just -- this is a learning standpoint for all of us.

Q. Obviously the Mobley brothers get a lot of hype, and rightfully so. But in the two games you guys have played it's really been the supporting cast. This really hurt you guys on their offensive end. What can you say about, like, the performances of White and Eaddy tonight?

EUGENE OMORUYI: They competed. They have competitors, just like we have competitors. And they outfought us. And it showed. We needed to start the game off better. And we didn't start it off the way we wanted to and it kind of just put us in a hole early.

Q. Coach was saying that you and Chris, especially, he expects to move on. He'll talk with all you seniors. But it goes without saying, you have graduated. You've accomplished a lot. Have you decided definitively you're moving on? And in that case, what's just your plans for the next couple of weeks? How fast does life change for you here in the next couple of days?

EUGENE OMORUYI: The goal is to just go home. My family is there. Go home with them and just take a week off and just get back in the lab and get ready for the next level.